Scarcity is the concept of making something scarce, that is limiting its availability.

For instance, in Internet Marketing, you could release a product and include scarcity by only making it available until a certain number of copies are sold. That means that people who want your product have to get in there before the last copy of is sold or they may be disappointed.

(I use 'may be' there for reasons of another of my pet peeves, when people claim that something is scarce, but it is really isn't. Be assured that, if I ever use scarcity, it's completely genuine).

Now, scarcity isn't something that just exists for Internet Marketers. It exists for all products and all business concepts and that includes physical products.

Which brings me nicely on to an example.

I've just seen an advert for the classic animated picture 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' being released on BluRay for the first time (it may have been released in other countries, but remember that I'm in the UK, so it is a new release here).

The advert made it very clear that the release was available for a limited time only. So anyone not buying their copy will miss out (at least until the next time that the film is rereleased).

Now, there's no real reason for the scarcity, but clearly the finances dictate that a limited release is more profitable than simply leaving Snow White on sale all year round.

So, next time you're releasing a product, think how you can do a Snow White and introduce scarcity to increase your sales.

Want to share a good idea about using scarcity? Just go ahead and reply below.

One Comment

Although it may work for whoever is selling a product I find it annoying that things especially disney movies are only available for a limited time because I won't be able to get them and then don't want to update to a new system.